Q2 First Solo Flight Dr. Steve Kulczycky

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Category: Quickheads BLOG

Published on Thursday, 09 December 2010 14:42

Written by Dan Yager

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{flv}qtalk/144/first_solo{/flv}

The above video was shown at Dr. Steve Kulczycky's Memorial service on November 13th, 2010.  Dr. Steve passed away on October 27th, 2010, but I decided to bring the video over to the QBA website to celebrate Steve’s life.  Although the video shows a bit of a rough start for the relationship between Dr. Steve and his beloved Q2, he became the highest time Quickie pilot in the world with 2369 total flight hours logged.  This record will probably stand for quite a few more years, but it is a testament to Steve’s life and love of the Q design.

Several pilots are starting their taxi testing and I hope each of them will watch this video before first flight.  Many new Quickie pilots are surprised by the amount of space required to slow the Q down on final.  It is a really efficient and low drag design.  That “slipperiness” means that the glide angle on final will be much shallower than the Cessnas most of us are used to flying.

On first flight, stay close to the airport but don’t be afraid to practice that final glide at altitude before trying it “for real.”  Before any of this, you should have already taxi tested your Q until you want to puke.  In addition, you should get out to the Quickie fly-ins, and shoot several landings with more experienced Q pilots in their planes.  Get that “sight picture” stuck in your head before you attempt to land one on your own.

If you’re interested in seeing the original video, you can check it out on vimeo by visiting here:

http://www.vimeo.com/16817064

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